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Monday, October 8, 2012

Getting Dimensional

Every now and then, I like to break out of flat-card mode in a big way. Usually, these are cards I intend to hand-deliver or send with a gift package in the mail because they are usually a bit, um, fragile.

Who else hears "fra-JEE-lay" every time they see the word fragile? Yep, I want a leg lamp stamp.

It's a MAJOR award!*

Okay, back to dimensional cards that might be a bit fragile. I saw a gorgeous couple of cards by Mary Walden published in Take Ten Autumn 2012. Mary put twigs, die cuts, pieces of dried grass, bits of text-printed and handmade paper, and other ephemera into open envelopes attached to the front of her cards. The envelopes and background were stamped with a natural texture stamp, and the little envelopes were wrapped in white twine and embellished with beads.

They are cool cards. Go buy a copy of Take Ten and see for yourself. They are on page 108.

So I borrowed the idea and made it over into my rather graphic, stylized, clean-and-simple style.

First off, I made the envelope using an old SU envelope template and cut off the flap. Instead of using actual grasses and twigs, I stamped the Hero Arts branch stamp twice behind the envelope. (Actually had to do that step twice as the first time I messed up and had the bottom branch too far right.) The punched flowers are distressed (run the paper through a crimper several times, rotating the paper 90 degrees each pass, then crumple heartlessly, then punch). The two pieces of stamped paper tucked into the envelope are glued into position.

I decided this was still a bit cluttered for me (although I like it enough to send it to my mom for the Gratitude Campaign), so I tried again, stripping the card down to its barest essentials.

Yep. This one looks like I made it.

And I never would have thought to do it without the inspiration provided by Mary Walden.

Thanks, Mary!

*If you're wondering what in the heck I'm blathering about, please check out the movie The Christmas Story.

18 comments:

I LOVE your cards here, and love your style in general. Your eye for balance and white space is inspiring. I follow your blog and look forward to each new post. I love your constant inspiration and reminder the beautiful does not necessarily mean having more things on a card, beautiful can just as easily mean LESS things on a card. Thank you for continuing to share your talent and vision with all of us.

Love both cards but the second does definitely seem more you! A couple of years ago I bought my DH a toaster oven for Christmas. The make Breville which instantly got christened Bre-VEEL-lee as a nod to A Christmas Story.

I've been gone over the weekend and couldn't wait to get back and see what you've done. Ahhhhh! What a beauty here! I love the colors you've used, and I'm surprised how much the twine adds. Although I like the first card with the filled envelope, I like your own underneath it better. Sigh. Now I've had my Simplicity fix. The world is right again.

I've been away traveling for the last few weeks but am happy to be home and back in my craftroom and checking the computer for inspiration. These two cards are definitely inspiring, especially the second one. Beautiful colours! I love seeing you do cards with layers as they teach me so much and, except for the occasional time I manage to pull it off, one layer cards are just not me! Did you know that yesterday's Technique Lover's Challenge was to add dimension to a card? Your first card would be perfect for it.

Your distinctive style makes the first one a "not-a-Susan-kind-of-card," but it is really nice (and more like something I'm comfortable doing.) I want to go get the magazine just to see the card you're talking about. I like things like twigs, grasses and handmade papers on any papercraft. The second one is more identifiable as a "Susan card." Both are so well constructed in terms of balance, color, elements.... I think I'll CASE both of them! I wish I had your confidence and eye to make cards with more white space. I can only pull it off if I CASE one, so that's what I do. I keep trying, nonetheless, hoping I'll catch on one of these days.